Cinzetti's?

[glutenboy]

Has anyone eaten at Cinzetti's italian restaurant with good results? They have one north of Denver and apparently one in Kansas. I've eaten there before I was diagnosed and now have to go for a family function (not my choice where to go). I'm going either way and may just nibble on risotto or something, but would love to hear if someone managed to get a gluten-free meal there. It's buffet/open kitchen style, so I'm hoping to convince a chef to cook me something without sauce and seasoning.

Thanks,

Dave

[ArtGirl]

We have a Cinzetti's where I live, but because of the buffet style I have been reluctant to go back there. Their foods mostlyl have gravys, sauces and/or pasta. Way too expensive to go and just have salad. I'll be interested to hear if you had a good experience there.

[glutenboy]

Sorry for the delay in the followup. I was moderately optimistic that I could find *something* there, and hoped that since the cooks are right there you could ask questions and get reasonable answers. However, my experience was not so good and I got glutened worse than I've let happen in months. (I say "let happen" because at this point I feel like I know when food is a risk and am choosing to eat it anyway).

I ate four things - rotisserie (sp?) chicken, a cheese/hash brown dish, mashed potatoes, and mint chocolate chip ice cream with chrushed M&Ms. I hoped that the chicken would be gluten-free if I avoided the skin - there was a seasoning on there that I was suspicious of. The cook for the area with the chicken didn't speak english, so I couldn't get much info from him. I really need to get bilingual dining cards.

The area with the cheese/hash browns had a very nice (though very busy) cook who said it was simply cheese, shredded potatos, and then ham or vegetables, no flour or seasonings.

The mashed potatoes seemed to have butter in them, but otherwise umolested. I only ate a spoonful.

Generally I don't have problems with ice cream or M&M's, so I figured that was safe.

So, somewhere in there I got gluten. Potatoes sometimes give me a little problem, but not like I've suffered for several days afterwards. My guess is that it was the chicken or something in the cheesy hash browns.

It's a shame, because they do have a wide variety of foods and you'd think with the cooks so accessible you could get good info or maybe a custom cooked dish, but I think they just focus on volume and don't have time. And for the money ($67 for four people, including sodas for each) it is WAY too expensive. For that money we all could have had a steak at Outback, where I'm almost certain to avoid gluten.

Dave

[JenniLu]

My recently diagnosed 15 year old is in the same boat. He doesn't cook or read food labels. He really has no idea which foods may have gluten hiding in it. I called the restaurant ahead of time told them he needed to eat Gluten Free and that he needs help choosing items that are safe. They are going to have the manager go around with him. They have gluten-free pasta that they will make special for him. He can always have pasta with butter and salt. I'm still worried he'll get glutened and get sick at the dance.